The Government of Spain strengthens the equity and integrality of the National Health System

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Fotos: Pool Moncloa / José Manuel Álvarez

The Council of Ministers has addressed several regulations and initiatives that are "essential to strengthening and expanding" the National Health System (SNS), according to the Minister for Health, Mónica García.

The Government has approved the bill amending various regulations to consolidate the equity and integrality of the SNS, which seeks to guarantee equality in access to healthcare and to strengthen cooperation between the different healthcare structures.

Among the new features included in the bill, the minister highlighted the obligation to evaluate the impact on health of regulations relating to the "social determinants of health", such as housing, education, transport and occupational health.

Mónica García pointed out that the future law also includes a "historical request" of patients- their participation in the SNS in a stable and permanent manner. To channel their voice, the Open Health Forum, an advisory body that will formulate proposals on the functioning of the SNS, has been created.

The draft also equalises the exemptions from user contributions for pharmaceutical and orthopaedic care.

Public health surveillance

Fotos: Pool Moncloa / José Manuel Álvarez

The Executive has also approved the creation and regulation of the State Public Health Surveillance Network, which includes the Early Warning and Rapid Response System.

The head of the Ministry of Health thanked the "conscientious and professional work of Fernando Simón, who has been behind this royal decree that has been pending since 2011", in accordance with the provisions of the General Law on Public Health.

The State Network will facilitate the collection and analysis of data and the establishment of procedures and protocols that will effectively be "an early warning system that will allow us to identify in less than 24 hours all the alarms and situations that endanger our public health".

Expansion of the oral health portfolio

Third, the Council of Ministers has given the green light to the distribution of €68 million among the Autonomous Communities for the extension of the portfolio of oral health services. The distribution will have to be approved by the Interterritorial Council of the SNS.

"This is also a historical demand because our national health system cannot be understood without understanding that it has to include oral health", said Mónica García. Priority groups in this area are the population up to the age of 14, pregnant women, people with disabilities and cervical and facial cancer patients.

More places for Medicine

Last, the Council of Ministers has strengthened the subsidising of places for medical graduates in public universities to alleviate the lack of professionals.

The Minister for Health explained that this is the second year that the Government has allocated funds from the General State Budget for medical schools to increase their number of places. In the first year the increase was 626 places, and with the new subsidy this figure is now 900.

"This is one of the multilateral measures taken by the Government of Spain to increase the number of medical students," said the minister, who pointed out that in recent years the number of training places for doctors has also been increased.

Relaxation of the conditions for access to CAP aid

The Council of Ministers has approved a royal decree that relaxes the conditions for farmers and stockbreeders to access CAP aid.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has detailed that aid beneficiaries with farms of 10 hectares or less are exempt from controls and penalties relating to enhanced cross-compliance, a set of obligations that beneficiaries must adhere to avoid having their aid reduced. He pointed out that compliance with good agricultural and environmental practices linked to tillage, plant cover, crop rotation and non-productive areas will also be made more flexible.

Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The royal decree approved today also included the amendment that allowed farmers and stockbreeders to submit the single application for 2024 until 15 June.

Planas emphasised that the new regulation is part of the 43 measures presented by the Government in April in response to the main concerns expressed by farmers and stockbreeders. Of the 43 committed measures, 11 have already been implemented, 6 are at a very advanced stage, 22 are ongoing and 4 have been initiated.

In the minister's opinion, the simplification of the CAP is the most important action at European level to respond to the demands of these groups, although the government is also carrying out others. In this regard, he pointed to the start of the processing of the royal decree to make the digital farm logbook voluntary, as well as the logbooks relating to the sustainability of soils and the use of phytosanitary products and fertilisers.

Luis Planas also reviewed other Executive actions to benefit these sectors, such as more human and material resources for the current Food Information and Control Agency, making progress on decent pay for farmers and stockbreeders, supporting agricultural insurance, improving the taxation of diesel, responding to the livestock sector and incorporating young people into the primary sector.

The minister also pointed out that Spain is the fourth largest agri-food power in the EU and the seventh largest in the world, with a positive trade balance of €15.4 billion. In this context, the government wants to include so-called "mirror clauses" in trade agreements with non-EU countries, which require that produce imported into an EU country meets the same environmental, health and animal welfare standards imposed on local farmers and livestock breeders.

New European legislature

During his speech at the press conference following the Council of Ministers, Luis Planas indicated that the new legislature that begins after the European elections has three central elements: food, the financing of the CAP and fair remuneration for farmers and stockbreeders.

Recruitment of teachers in public universities

The Council of Ministers has approved the implementation of the Programme for the Incorporation of Teaching and Research Talent to finance 3,400 assistant doctoral lecturer positions in Spanish public universities.

The Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, pointed out that the temporary employment rate in Spanish universities is 49%, compared to a general temporary employment rate of 12.8%, which she described as "unacceptable".

Diana Morant, ministra de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades,, en la rueda de prensa posterior al Consejo de Ministros. | Fotos: Pool Moncloa / José Manuel Álvarez

Morant attributed the situation to the policies of cuts and austerity adopted during the previous crisis, which led universities not to replace the posts of retiring lecturers and instead to rely on associate lecturers. "By hiring a full-time associate professor, we are falsifying this figure and making it more precarious," said Morant, who pointed out that thousands of professors falsely hired as associates in the university system earn on average €600-750.

The new Organic Law of the University System (LOSU) sets the objective of reducing temporary employment to 20%, requiring the incorporation and stabilisation of a total of 5,634 university lecturers and professors. The minister linked this objective to the importance of retaining talent: 70% of research in Spain is carried out in universities, and 95% of this research is carried out by public universities. "Not treating university research professors appropriately is, in short, continuing to mistreat our country's research and scientific system," he said.

Commitment of the autonomous communities and universities

Diana Morant pointed out that although it is not the responsibility of the Executive to ensure that the universities have the necessary funding to undertake such a profound shift, the Government has nonetheless wanted to "lead" the process, together with the autonomous communities and the universities through the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE). Hence the "historic step" it has taken with the programme adopted today: "We have said it many times: We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past, we are not going to expel talent again. On the contrary, we are going to take care of it as never before".

The initiative aims to fund 3,400 places from 2024-2025 and for six years, with an annual investment of €150 million. The minister specified that what the Council has approved today is the cost of the remuneration of the posts for the period from 1 September to 31 December of this year, which amounts to €46 million. He added that the criteria for the allocation of places respond objectively to the needs of each university.

Morant said that tomorrow the programme will be submitted to the General Conference on University Policy for assessment by the autonomous communities, which will have to finance the rest of the places up to a total of 5,634 if they wish to take part in the initiative. Universities will also have to commit themselves to reducing temporary employment to the threshold set by the LOSU.

Forest Fire Action Plan 2024

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has reported on the approval by the Council of Ministers of the Plan of actions to prevent and combat forest fires 2024, a set of interdepartmental measures that have been adopted since 2005 to tackle this problem.

"The environmental circumstance of our country means that the arrival of summer unfortunately sees the outbreak of numerous fires that need to be tackled by all the administrations to minimise their effects," she said. Alegría explained that the state system planned for 2024 is similar to that of previous years and is mainly made up of personnel from the Forest Fire Brigades (BRIF), the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and members of the State Security Forces and Corps.

Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

"State resources are committed to offering an effective response, both nationally and in all autonomous communities where their presence is necessary," said the minister, who in her speech also congratulated the state law enforcement forces and agencies "for the magnificent work they do" in this field.

New calls for applications for the Verano Joven and Bono Cultural Joven programmes

Alegría began her speech by celebrating the figures for participation in the new calls for applications for the Youth Summer Programme and the Bono Cultural Joven. In the first case, more than 400,000 people registered on the first day of operation of the website of this initiative, which offers discounts to young people between 18 and 30 years of age to travel by train and bus during the summer season. According to the minister, this participation figure is four times higher than last year's, which "confirms the success of this initiative, which has now been running for two consecutive years".

The new edition of the Bono Cultural has also registered more than 21,300 applications in the first 24 hours of opening, twice as many as in 2023. This call offers a grant of €400 aimed at young people who were born after 2006 to enjoy activities and different cultural products throughout the year. "These are two measures that demonstrate the clear commitment of the Government of Spain to the young people of our country", Alegría concluded.

Tenth anniversary of the proclamation of Felipe VI

The Minister for Education ended her speech by conveying to His Majesty King Felipe VI her appreciation for his work on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his proclamation. Alegría congratulated the King on behalf of the Government for "these ten years of commitment, transparency and, above all, loyalty to the head of state".

Non official translation